U.S. Marshals arrested a second suspect in the Bronx this week in connection with the June 3 shooting death of Frederick Raymond Werner, a 69-year-old man gunned down inside his own home on East Broadway in Milford, Connecticut. Ivan Barias-Florimon, 24, now faces five charges, including felony murder and home invasion, after a two-month investigation tracked him from the quiet coastal town where the attack occurred to New York City.
A judge in New York Criminal Court remanded Barias-Florimon without bail following his arraignment. He is due back in court August 18.
The case has shaken Milford, a seaside Connecticut community where violent crime of this kind is rare. Werner was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds. His wife, who has not been publicly identified, was shot in the head during the same attack. She remains hospitalized and is still recovering, Fox News reported.
Milford Police said the home invasion was not a “random act of violence” and may have been targeted. They have not disclosed a motive or explained what led the suspects to Werner’s home in the 800 block of East Broadway. The investigation remains open, and police said more arrests are possible.
The first suspect, Stuar Lopez-Reyes, 25, was arrested the previous Thursday by a joint team of U.S. Marshals, Milford Police, and New Haven Police. Lopez-Reyes is being held in a Bridgeport, Connecticut jail on $3 million bond and is scheduled to appear in court August 11.
Barias-Florimon was identified as the second suspect last week. The U.S. Marshals New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force announced his arrest in a press release, confirming that both men now face charges tied to the deadly break-in.
Police allege that Barias-Florimon and Lopez-Reyes broke into the couple’s home and opened fire on both victims. The charges against Barias-Florimon include felony murder, conspiracy to commit murder, home invasion, attempted murder, and first-degree assault on an elderly person.
Werner’s obituary, published by Prospect Memorial and Cremation Services, painted a picture of a man who spent his later years enjoying the Connecticut coast.
“Fred embraced life to the fullest. He loved spending time on the golf course, boating on the water, relaxing by his pool, and soaking up the sunshine. The ocean was one of his favorite places, where he found peace and happiness.”
He is survived by his wife, a sister, two daughters, and three grandchildren. His wife’s current condition and prognosis have not been publicly disclosed beyond the fact that she was shot in the head and remains in the hospital.
The brutality of the crime, two armed intruders entering a home and shooting an elderly couple, stands in sharp contrast to the community where it happened. Milford sits along Long Island Sound, known more for Walnut Beach and weekend boaters than for home invasions. That a 69-year-old retiree could be executed inside his own house, and his wife left fighting for her life, is the kind of event that forces a town to reckon with threats it assumed belonged somewhere else.
Cases like this one remind communities across the country that violent crime does not respect zip codes. The recent arrest of an arson suspect in Spokane after a wildfire destroyed hundreds of structures showed a similar pattern: a single criminal act devastating a community that never expected it.
The timeline tells the story of a painstaking investigation. Werner was killed on June 3. For roughly two months, authorities worked to identify the suspects. Last week, investigators named Barias-Florimon as the second man involved. Days later, Lopez-Reyes was picked up. Then, on Tuesday, Marshals apprehended Barias-Florimon in the Bronx.
The U.S. Marshals’ fugitive task forces have a long track record of running down suspects who flee across state lines. The Marshals’ press release confirmed the arrest and the task force’s role in the investigation.
That both suspects were located outside Milford, one in Bridgeport, the other in the Bronx, underscores how quickly suspects can scatter after a violent crime. Federal fugitive operations remain one of the most effective tools for bringing them back to face justice.
The pursuit echoes other recent fugitive captures, including the dramatic apprehension of a Rhode Island anesthesiologist found on a sailboat off New Jersey after two decades on the run. In that case, as in this one, federal resources proved essential to closing the gap between crime and accountability.
Several critical details remain unclear. Police have not said why they believe the attack was targeted, or what connection, if any, the suspects had to Werner or his wife. The specific charges filed against Lopez-Reyes in Connecticut have not been publicly detailed in the same way Barias-Florimon’s charges have.
It is also unclear whether Barias-Florimon faces charges in Connecticut in addition to those filed in New York. The charges listed, home invasion, first-degree assault on an elderly person, sound like Connecticut statutes, but his arraignment took place in New York Criminal Court. Whether extradition proceedings will follow has not been disclosed.
Milford Police have said more arrests are possible, suggesting the investigation may extend beyond the two men already in custody. Whether additional suspects played a role in planning or carrying out the attack remains an open question.
Large-scale law enforcement operations, like the FBI-led sweep in Chicago that netted 305 arrests, demonstrate what happens when federal agencies commit resources to violent crime. In Milford, the commitment of the Marshals’ fugitive task force made the difference between suspects disappearing into the urban sprawl and suspects sitting in jail cells awaiting trial.
Frederick Werner spent his retirement on the golf course, by the pool, and near the ocean. He did not live in a war zone. He lived in a beach town in Connecticut. And two men allegedly broke into his home and shot him and his wife.
His wife survived a bullet to the head. She is still in the hospital. The community that surrounds their home on East Broadway is still processing what happened.
Both suspects are now behind bars. Lopez-Reyes faces a $3 million bond in Bridgeport. Barias-Florimon sits in custody without bail in New York. The courts will have their say starting in August.
The work of the Marshals and local police in tracking these suspects across state lines deserves recognition. So does the reality that a two-month gap between a murder and an arrest is a long time for a grieving family and a rattled neighborhood to wait. In cases involving fugitives who cross jurisdictional boundaries, federal coordination is not optional, it is the only thing that works.
A man who loved the ocean is gone. His wife is fighting to recover. The least the system owes them, and every family like them, is a courtroom where the people responsible answer for what they did.
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